The hip-hop-tinged, R&B poet drops some bookish knowledge while performing an intimate set at Mother Foucault’s. Next up, catch her sharing the Holocene stage with Natasha Kmeto on September 20.

Surrounded by shelves of books at Mother Foucault’s Bookshop in SE Portland, Fritzwa drops some knowledge of her own, performing a stripped-down version of her song “She” for Banana Stand Media’s Unpeeled Sessions along with keyboard player Charlie Brown. Though her live performance is without the same percussion elements found on the recorded version, there is no lack of energy and passion as Fritzwa’s vocals and Brown’s keys fill in the percussive space with a natural groove.

“She” comes from her 2016 debut album Avenue |A|—listen below. “I recorded this in Brooklyn, NYC, at my homie Frans' studio. Excuse me... the legendary Frans Mernick's studio,” Fritzwa laughs. (Mernick has worked with A$AP Rocky, Tyler, The Creator, ILoveMakonnen, Justin Timberlake, Foster The People, Justin Bieber and many more.) “He mixed and engineered the whole project. I wrote this song to some production by this very talented and mysterious producer named Remy Lennox. Follow him on SoundCloud, he's fire.”

“This song tells a story about a cool guy who likes a girl who he thinks is cooler than him... or maybe even too cool for him,” Fritzwa explains. This one is a “shout out to all the cool girls,” she says with all the vibe of a smiley face emoji wearing Ray-Bans.

“‘Mister never had to try, lord of the fly, that man since junior high’ is probably one of my favorite lyrics. This references Lord of the Flies by William Golding, which is mandatory high school reading for pretty much everrrydambooody,” she laughs aloud. “I thought it was a clever way of characterizing the kind of dude he is with those lines.”

Don’t miss Fritzwa rocking Holocene on Wednesday, September 20, opening for Natasha Kmeto. And Banana Stand Media will be there filming the show.